The present invention relates generally to electrically conductive connectors. In particular, the present invention concerns an electrically conductive connector suitable for electrically connecting spaced-apart conductors of a printed circuit board.
With the current emphasis on miniaturization of electronic circuits, it becomes more and more important to densely pack integrated circuits, transistors, capacitors, resistors, and similar electronic components on a printed circuit board. In the past, those various leaded electronic components have generally been applied to only one side of a printed circuit board. Recently with the advent of surface mount technology, devices can be applied to both the top and bottom of the printed circuit board.
The application of those electronic components to just one side of the printed circuit board has some practical reasons as well. In particular, the means for soldering those electronic components to the printed circuit board is uniquely adapted to providing the components on just one side of the board. For example, in the conventional wave-soldering technique, a printed circuit board is prepared by inserting the electronic component leads through the component side (e.g., top) of the board so that the leads of the electronic components extend through the board and through the appropriate conductor paths on the conductor side (e.g., bottom) of the circuit board. Then, the conductor side of the printed circuit board is passed over a wave of molten solder. That molten solder is wicked into the region surrounding each lead and its associated conductor path to effect the electrical connection. Thus, the wave-soldering technique provides a very efficient means for making a large number of electrical connections essentially simultaneously.
One of the common limitations in printed circuit board design is the location of the conductor paths between electronic components. More particularly, it is not possible with known technology to have conductor paths cross one another on the same conductor plane on a printed circuit board. This fact makes the layout and design of printed circuit boards more difficult than the design of wired circuits where insulated wires can cross one another at the whim of the designer. The limitation of printed circuit board design can conveniently be thought of as inherent in the two-dimensional nature of the printed circuit board as opposed to the three-dimensional nature of wired circuits using insulated conductors.
The present invention provides a means for removing the two-dimensional limitations of printed circuit board design while maintaining the ability to use the wave-soldering technique.
Known devices simply do not provide the kind of relief from prior two-dimensional constraints of circuit board design. For example, it is known to make a U-shaped resistor element out of a potted carbon material and use that resistor as an electronic component in a printed circuit board. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,932 issued to Kliever on Feb. 9, 1954. Likewise, it is known to use solid conductors embedded in various configurations in shaped blocks of insulating material for making contact between conductors of adjacent circuit boards. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,884 issued to Kotaka on Mar. 5, 1974; U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,878 issued to Munro on Dec. 10, 1974; U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,700 issued to Sado on Oct. 20, 1981; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,099 issued to Takamatsu et al. on Apr. 2, 1985. It is also known to use flat conductors wrapped in a generally U-shaped configuration about a substantially square insulating member for making electrical contacts between adjacent printed circuit boards. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,915 issued to Conrad on Dec. 9, 1975.
Insulating material blocks with specially configured grooves to hold conductors of electrical components have been proposed. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,309,579 issued to St. Louis et al. on Mar. 14, 1967. However, such blocks are not believed to have applicability to printed circuit boards.
Electrically conductive silicon rubber elastomers are known for use in making electrical connections between components on opposite sides of a printed circuit board and for making electrical contact buttons. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,610 issued to Euchoff et al. on July 27, 1976.
It will, however, be appreciated by those skilled in the art that those references do not reach to the concept of the present invention.
Moreover, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the need continues to exist for an electrical connector for use with printed circuit boards that will free the printed circuit board designer from the two dimensional limitation of conductor placement.